THE SYSTEMS THEORY FRAMEWORK OF CAREER DEVELOPMENT AND 
                              COUNSELING: CONNECTING THEORY AND PRACTICE 
                                                        1                     2
                                           Wendy Patton  and Mary McMahon , 
              
            Patton, Wendy and McMahon, Mary (2006) The Systems Theory Framework Of Career 
            Development And Counseling: Connecting Theory And Practice. International Journal for the 
            Advancement of Counselling 28(2):pp. 153-166.

             
            Copyright 2006 Springer 
             
            Key words: Systems theory, career counseling, career theory, counseling theory 
             
            Abstract 
            The practice of career counseling has been derived from principles of career theory and counseling theory. In recent 
            times, the fields of both career and counseling theory have undergone considerable change. This article details the 
            move toward convergence in career theory, and the subsequent development of the Systems Theory Framework in this 
            domain. The importance of this development to connecting theory and practice in the field of career counseling is 
            discussed. 
                   Systems theory has been proposed as a potential overarching framework for dealing with many issues in 
            human behavior. Contributors to systems theory have come from many diverse fields, including physics (Capra, 1982), 
            biology, anthropology and psychology (Bateson, 1979). The work on living systems by D. Ford (1987) and M. Ford 
            and D. Ford (1987) has served to develop an integrated framework of human development and has furthered the 
            development and understanding of systems theory. Developmental Systems Theory (DST, D. Ford & Lerner, 1992) and 
            Motivational Systems Theory (MST; M. Ford, 1992) have illustrated the applicability of systems theory principles to 
            human behavior.  
                   Patton and McMahon (1999, 2006) have extended the utility of systems theory in their application of it as a 
            metatheoretical framework for career theory, and as a guide to redefine career counseling practice. The field of career 
            development, as with many other fields of psychology, is characterized by a variable and complex theoretical base. The 
            early thinking by career theorists had ranged from acknowledging the potential of systems theory in furthering the 
            integration of career theory and practice, incorporating aspects of systems theory into theoretical formulations, to 
            drawing on theoretical frameworks of human development derived from general systems theory as frameworks within 
            which to further understand specific aspects of human career behavior. Whilst systems theory had influenced the 
            thinking of career theorists and researchers for over a decade, until the work of Patton and McMahon in 1999 it had not 
            been applied to the provision of an overarching theoretical framework. The Systems Theory Framework (STF; 
            McMahon, 2002; McMahon & Patton, 1995; Patton, 1997; Patton & McMahon,1999, 2006) is not designed to be a 
            theory of career development; rather it is construed as an overarching framework within which all concepts of career 
            development described in the plethora of career theories can be usefully positioned and utilized in theory and practice.  
             
            The Systems Theory Framework -  mapping  the origins of career counseling 
                   The STF provides a map for understanding the origins of career counseling and the dilemma it is 
            now facing. Career counseling is a unique discipline built on a foundation of career theory and  counseling 
            theory. Traditional career theory has tended to focus on specific discrete concepts relevant to individual 
            career behavior. In focusing on only one aspect relevant to career decision-making, for example, 
            intrapersonal aspects such as self-concept, others are inevitably undervalued or ignored, and the nature of 
            their interaction almost certainly is.  
                   Central to the STF is the individual system within which is depicted a range of intrapersonal influences 
            on career development, such as personality, ability, gender, and sexual orientation. Some of these influences have 
            received considerable attention by career theorists and others have not. As individuals do not live in isolation, the 
                                                           
            1
              Professor, Queensland University of Technology, Kelvin Grove Campus Queensland, Australia (w.patton@qut.edu.au) 
            2 Lecturer, Queensland University of Technology, Kelvin Grove Campus Queensland, Australia 
             
             
      individual system is connected with influences that comprise the individual’s social system as well as the broader 
      environmental/societal system. While the influence of many factors, such as geographic location and political 
      decisions, on career development is less well understood within the theoretical literature, their influence on career 
      development may be profound. 
          The STF presents career development as a dynamic process, depicted through its process influences, 
      recursiveness, change over time and chance (see Figure 1). Fundamental to understanding the STF is the notion 
      that each system is an open system. An open system is subject to influence from outside and may also influence 
      that which is beyond its boundaries. Such interaction is termed recursiveness in the STF, which in diagrammatic 
      form is depicted by broken lines that represent the permeability of the boundaries of each system. It is well 
      acknowledged that influences on an individual may change over time. The final process influence, chance, is 
      depicted on the STF diagram as lightning flashes, reflecting an increased recognition of the part chance plays in 
      career development. All of the systems of influence are located within the context of time - past, present and 
      future - all of which are inextricably linked; past influences the present, and together past and present influence 
      the future. 
                                
               Figure 1. The Systems Theory Framework of Career Development 
                       (from Patton & McMahon, 1999) 
                                                      
       
              The traditional approach also needed to be understood in the context of time and the world of work 
         when career counseling, then termed vocational guidance, was first developed. At that time, in the early part 
         of the last century, the world of work essentially provided individuals with a job for life, and the 
         predominant issue brought to counseling was that of career choice, usually at school leaving age. Indeed, 
         knowledge about the world of work in order to facilitate career choice also became an essential component 
         of the career counseling process. Thus, career counseling was largely seen as an objective cognitive problem-
         solving process whereby matching knowledge about self and knowledge about the world of work would 
         result in a sound career choice.  
              This approach to career counseling lent itself comfortably to the use of psychometric assessment of 
         elements of the intrapersonal system of the client, such as ability, personality, self-concept, and/or aptitude. 
         Assessment figured significantly in career counseling, and part of the role of the counselor was to administer 
         assessment instruments, interpret the results, and convey them to the client. Such an approach established 
         career counseling as different from personal counseling. It also portrayed the role of the counselor as one of 
         an expert who would tell a client what to do. It was this approach, termed the trait and factor approach, that 
         dominated career counseling for much of the twentieth century. 
               
         A changing focus 
              However, the focus on which career counseling is based has changed dramatically. While the 
         elements of the system are the same, their nature and relevance to career counseling are different. In 
         particular, career theories have broadened and new theories have been proposed, and the world of work has 
         undergone dramatic and irreversible change (Brown & Associates, 2002; Patton & McMahon, 1999). In 
         today’s world, people change jobs several times in a lifetime, and occupational choice is only one of a 
         myriad of concerns that clients bring to career counselors.  Career theories need to be appropriate for the 
         complexity of individuals living in a complex world. 
               Traditional career theories have been challenged as being too narrow; new theories have been 
         proposed to encompass elements of the social system and the environmental-societal system and the 
         integration (or convergence) of theories has been debated and explored (Savickas & Lent, 1994). In addition, 
         proponents of the traditional but more narrow theories have acknowledged the influence of elements of the 
         broader system on their clients. Indeed, theorists and practitioners alike have been challenged to be more 
         holistic in their thinking.  
              Proponents of moves toward convergence in career theory (Chen, 2003; Savickas & Lent;) have 
         emphasized the importance of viewing the whole of career behavior and the relationship between all relevant 
         elements in the career decision-making process to each other and to the whole. In doing so, it is important 
         that contributions from all theories are considered in exploring an individual’s career decision-making 
                                                          st century is markedly different 
         processes. Thus the theoretical map underpinning career counseling in the 21
         from that which existed when career counseling first began.  
               
         Career counseling to date 
              The practice of career counseling has lagged behind that advocated by more recent approaches to 
         both career development theory and counseling practice. This is evidenced by the fact that the dominant 
         approach  used in career counseling is still the trait and factor approach, with its individual problem-solving 
         focus. A number of writers have emphasized that it is time career counseling was reconstructed to be an 
         effective process in these changing times (Savickas, 2000). Challenges such as the redefinition of career 
         (McMahon, Patton, & Tatham, 2003; Richardson,1996) and the demands being made on career counseling at 
         sociopolitical levels (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2004) demand a response. 
         In this regard, Savickas (1993) urges that career counseling “keep pace with our society’s movement to a 
         postmodern era” (p.205) and that its practice needs to move from “seeking truth to participation in 
         conversations; from objectivity to perspectivity” (p. 205. As constructivism represents an epistemologic 
         position that emphasizes self-organizing and proactive knowing, it provides a perspective from which to 
         conceptualize changing notions of career in postmodern society. These changing notions include the 
         importance of individuals becoming more self-directed in making meaning of the place of work in their lives 
         and in managing their careers (Richardson,1996). The active role of the individual in the career counseling 
         process is emphasized within a constructivist approach, as career counselors aim to work collaboratively 
         with individuals, focusing on holistic approaches to life-career, and encouraging individuals to actively 
         reflect on, revise, and reorient their life-career relationship (McMahon & Patton, 2002). 
              Career counseling can be seen as very much an evolving profession. In reality it has emerged as a 
         profession in its own right only comparatively recently. Herr (1997) explains that for much of its history, 
               career counseling was rarely differentiated from vocational or career guidance, and that it was not until the 
               1960s and 1970s that the term ‘career guidance and counseling’ sufficiently differentiated the two elements.. 
               It is only in the last twenty years that calls have been made for expanded views of career counseling in 
               response to changes in society, and increasing attention is being paid to changing definitions of career 
               counseling.  
                        Herr (1997) distinguishes five observations about the changes in career counseling. They are that: 
                     •   its principal content is the perceptions, anxieties, information deficits, work personalities, 
                         competencies, and motives that persons experience in their interactions with their external 
                         environment; 
                     •   career counseling is not a singular process, but a term used to summarize a range of interventions; 
                     •   career counseling is no longer conceived as a process principally focused on ensuring that 
                         adolescents make a wise choice of an initial job; 
                     •   career counseling may be considered the preferred intervention of choice, … but may be one of a 
                         program of interventions  … to deal with emotional or behavioral disorders that accompany or 
                         confound the career problem; 
                     •   career counseling may best be thought of as a continuum of intervention processes (pp.85-86). 
               Herr notes that these changes in the content and processes of career counseling have not occurred in a 
               vacuum; rather they are in response to the prevailing conditions in society.  
                        Another example of the changing nature of career counseling has been the debate about the fusion of 
               career and personal counseling (Hackett, 1993; Krumboltz, 1993). This debate has represented the first 
               serious challenge to the problem-solving traditions of career counseling, and has drawn attention to the need 
               for career counseling to change its practices in order to be more relevant. It is too simplistic to adopt the 
               approach that individuals can separate career issues from personal issues for, as Savickas (1993) stated, 
               “career is personal” (p.212). More recently, discussion on career counseling has reflected a move toward 
               constructivist approaches (McMahon & Patton, 2006), emphasizing the importance of focusing on all aspects 
               of the whole individual. From a systems theory perspective, there is no debate as the uniqueness and 
               wholeness of the individual is of paramount importance in counseling and the recursiveness of the elements 
               of the individual’s subsystems cannot be separated from each other (see Figure 1).  
                         
               The Systems Theory Framework: Reflecting the career counseling experience 
                        The Systems Theory Framework (STF; Patton & McMahon, 1999, 2006) can provide a map for 
               career counseling as it accommodates not only the perspectives of the traditional predictive theories, but also 
               the positions of the more recent constructivist career counseling approaches (McMahon & Patton, 2002; 
               McMahon, Patton & Watson, 2003; 2004; McMahon, Watson, & Patton, 2005). A further strength of the 
               systems theory perspective is the link it forges between theory and practice. The use of a Systems Theory 
               Framework for understanding career development has implications for the practice of career counseling as it 
               requires career counselors to make the difficult move from a comfortable traditional worldview to the 
               emerging worldview with its different account of causality (Patton & McMahon, 1999). In using the 
               approach, career counselors need to combine traditional approaches with the ability to think in circular rather 
               than linear terms (see Figure 2). The notion of circular feedback processes shaping and reshaping systems 
               through subtle feedback is common in some fields of counseling (such as family therapy), yet comparatively 
               new in the field of career counseling.  
                        The interaction between the client and the counselor, that is, the counseling relationship itself, can be 
               conceptualized as a system in its own right. In fact counselors become an element of the system of influences 
               on the career development of the individual, and the individual becomes an element of the system of influences 
               on the counselor. In this system of interaction, the counselor and the individual use language to co-construct the 
               meaning of career for the individual in counseling. The career counseling process centres on meaning, with 
               language as the medium (Patton & McMahon, 1999; Peavy, 2004).